Tuesday, June 26, 2007

early thoughts...

because i'm in toronto, and people here like to shift focus from their team's downward spiral to... well... pretty much anything else (ex: "ooooh !!! SHINY !!!!!"), i've been fielding a lot of commentary on the 07/08 calgary flames potential and the latest big changes in the organization.

i find it absolutely fascinating that the masses are so split on the keenan hiring, and equally divided on the prospects of adrian aucoin. some leaf fans seem to think calgary could be the hands-down NW division champs, others figure we've made a couple of bonehead moves and will end up in the basement. i say it's way too soon to tell, but by xmastime we'll know if we've got a contender or a dud --cause i can't see the bell curve occurring under keenan. it will either be a slow climb or a bullet southward... we shall see...

i also find that a lot of the negative keenan feedback does not address his coaching but moreso his GMing, which really shouldn't apply. i don't think there's any question who's driving this bus, in terms of player acquisition, and it ain't iron mike. the other main concern (if you can say that the leafs fans actually give a shit about the flaming Cs) is potential player [specifically goaltender] alienation. well, maybe it's just me and my blind faith in darryl sutter (which, btw, is beginning to wane ever so slightly) but i cannot imagine him hiring keenan without addressing this. don't get me wrong --i don't expect a softer iron mike, i expect a smarter one.

7 comments:

They might be early thoughts, but clearly you had some espresso or something, 'cause this is nice and thought-provoking. I've been guilty on the criticizing Keenan for his recent GMing, but have focused on his seemingly poor judgment as a personality flaw that could easily slip into his coaching. That, plus he seems to get the players he wants no matter where he's standing. All that said, I'm starting to come down from my apocalyptic proclamations of recent times.

Anyway, you seem to have managed to get your head around the past few weeks faster than I have, so well done.

I've heard some good things about Keenan from more knowledgable sources (good bench manager for example), but also some bad ones (alienates some players to the extreme). Only time will tell if his strengths out-weigh his weaknesses when it comes to the Calgary Flames.

I'm going to read as a good sign the fact that contract extension talks are rumoured to be happening for Iggy. If so, he is at least considering not waiting and seeing before deciding to stay (not surprisingly... Keenan's what, the seventh head coach he's had as a Flame?)

This can hardly rank as anything close to the worst thing Iggy's seen as a Flame. I get the feeling he really wants to be that Yzerman-type legacy guy ... to win the cup in Calgary, not be Ray Bourque. If Sutter/Keenan are smart, they've already met with Iggy and Kipper to be open about their approach and let them know they're the keys to everything.

what i find is that most people's criticisms of keenan involve him being overly harsh. to which i point out that the core group of the flames THRIVED under comparably harsh coaching and fell apart under wishy-washy leadership. i think we all agree that alienating players will not be a smart move (and a move we all agree is not impossible), but if this is his REPUTATION, i would like to think that sutter would have addressed it prior to hiring. sutter KNOWS these players and he KNOWS keenan.

and i had to babysit this a.m. so i was up at 6 and by 8, i'd been 'watching' cartoons for over an hour.

I'm honestly thinking that the Keenan hiring is a good thing (as I've said from the start). Much like WI pointed out, he is much more confident in his game plan than Playfair will ever be and he's been around that game at the top level for a long, long time...

The problems in Calgary last season had more to do with an inconsistent game plan than anything in regards to overly sensitive players. I think Mike will find a way around the road woes, since he has undoubtedly seen everything that can happen in a hockey game by this point...